The scheduled meeting of 21 presidential aspirants of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Abuja has been canceled over lack of interest on the part the attendees.
The meeting failed to hold, yesterday, despite widespread publicity in the days leading to the parley.
The roundtable earlier slated for 2pm at Transcorp Hilton, was for the aspirants to come up with viable strategies to support the APC standard bearer, Bola Tinubu, to win the February presidential election.
Although no official reason was given for the postponement of the meeting, it was gathered that most of the aspirants who were invited to the parley were indifferent.
Convener of the meeting, Dr Nicolas Felix, had earlier said the aspirants had indicated their readiness to attend the meeting.
However, in a message sent to one of the aspirants, Felix implied that the meeting had been postponed indefinitely.
The message reads; “Good day your Excellency. Please be informed that the strategic meeting of 2023 Presidential Aspirants of the All Progressives Congress, APC, scheduled to hold on Wednesday, the 31st of August has be postponed.
“A new date for the meeting will be communicated soon. Apologies for any inconvenience(s) that this might cause. Stay blessed.”
However, it’s learnt that some of the aspirants did not communicate their commitment to the meeting.
“Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has travelled. Senate President Ahmad Lawan did not formally respond to the invitation, likewise former Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi.” Vanguard quoted a source familiar with the development to have said.
The development further corroborates the assertion in some quarters that the ruling party hierarchy is enmeshed in an internal strife.
There are claims of cracks within the ranks of the presidential aspirants, especially with regards to Tinubu’s candidacy.
Another source said: “It seems some of these aspirants are yet to come to terms with our presidential candidate because some of them are not seen to be rallying the needed support for the party yet.
“All of them were well informed about this meeting. The organisers even sent out public statements twice to remind them but some did not show interest at all.”